Rent Stabilization and Eviction Rules in New York City

On 25 June 2026 the New York City Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents on stabilized apartments. For any renewal lease commencing on or after 1 October 2026, the permitted increase is zero — on a one-year lease and on a two-year lease alike.

About a million apartments in the city are rent stabilized, so this affects a large share of New York’s renters. It also comes off the back of a year in which increases were among the higher ones of the past decade.

What the Board actually adopted

The freeze extends to residential hotels as well — Class A apartments, lodging houses, rooming houses, Class B hotels and single room occupancy buildings all received 0% adjustments. A separate special guideline continues to apply to units leaving rent control.

The date that matters is when your renewal lease begins, not when you sign it. A lease commencing 30 September 2026 falls under Order #57 and its 3% or 4.5%. One commencing 1 October falls under the freeze. If your renewal date sits near the boundary, that single day is worth checking.

What a 0% guideline does not mean

This is where the headline and the rent bill diverge, and it is worth being clear about.

The guideline governs one thing: the percentage a landlord may add to the existing rent at renewal. It does not freeze every possible increase. Rent can still rise through:

• Major Capital Improvements (MCI) — building-wide work such as a new roof, boiler or windows, recovered from tenants through an approved increase
• Individual Apartment Improvements (IAI) — work done inside your unit
• Increases already approved and being phased in from earlier years

So a stabilized tenant can receive a renewal offer showing 0% and still see the rent go up. If that happens, the increase should be identified and documented on the lease — a rise that appears without explanation is worth questioning rather than paying.

One further point on preferential rent. Where a tenant pays less than the legal regulated rent, the guideline adjustment is applied to the preferential rent being paid, not to the higher legal figure. Under a 0% guideline that means no increase on what you actually pay.

Which apartments are covered

Rent stabilization generally reaches apartments in buildings of six or more units built before 1974, along with units brought in through tax benefit programmes and other routes. Coverage is determined by the building’s history rather than by the rent, and it is not always obvious from the outside.

If you are unsure, you can request your apartment’s rent history from New York State Homes and Community Renewal. It is free, and it shows the registered legal rent for every year — which is also how overcharges surface. Our rent stabilization and rent control practice covers what those records mean.

Your right to a renewal lease

The most valuable thing about a stabilized tenancy is not the capped increase. It is that you have a statutory right to renew, and that right holds with few exceptions.

The mechanics matter:

• The owner must offer renewal at least 90 and not more than 150 days before the current lease expires
• You choose the one-year or two-year term — the choice is the tenant’s, not the landlord’s
• The renewal must be on the same terms as the existing lease, apart from the permitted adjustment

Under the freeze, the term choice becomes an unusual decision. In a normal year a two-year lease trades a higher increase for certainty. This year both are zero, so a two-year renewal locks in today’s rent through to autumn 2028 at no premium at all — and skips whatever the Board decides next June.

When a landlord can refuse to renew

The grounds are narrow. The main one is owner occupancy: an owner may decline to renew where they have an immediate and compelling need for the apartment as a primary residence for themselves or immediate family.

Even then it is bounded. An individual owner may recover only one unit in a building. And tenants who have lived in the apartment for fifteen years or more, and tenants who are elderly or disabled, carry additional protection against this.

A landlord who simply wants a higher rent, or a different tenant, has no basis to refuse renewal.

Eviction still runs through the court

Whatever the dispute, a landlord in New York cannot remove a tenant personally. Changing the locks, removing belongings, or shutting off heat, water or electricity to force someone out is illegal regardless of what is owed or whether a lease has expired.

Removing a tenant requires a court proceeding, a judgment, and a warrant executed by a marshal. A tenant is entitled to appear and defend, and in a stabilized tenancy the defences available are broader — improper service, a defective notice, an unlawful rent demand, or a failure to offer a renewal lease at all.

If you have received court papers, the worst response is not to appear. A default judgment is far harder to undo than a case defended on time. Our landlord and tenant practice handles these proceedings on both sides.

Common questions

Does the freeze mean my rent cannot go up at all?

It means the guideline increase is zero. MCI and IAI increases, and previously approved increases still phasing in, sit outside the guideline and can still appear.

Should I take a one-year or two-year renewal?

Both are 0%, so a two-year lease costs nothing extra and holds your rent until autumn 2028. The trade-off is flexibility rather than money this year.

My renewal starts in September. Do I get the freeze?

No. Order #57 applies to leases commencing up to 30 September 2026 — 3% for one year, 4.5% for two.

How do I find out if my apartment is stabilized?

Request the rent history from New York State Homes and Community Renewal. It is free and it also reveals whether you have been overcharged.

Can my landlord refuse to renew my lease?

Only on limited grounds, principally a genuine owner-occupancy need, and only for one unit per individual owner. Long-tenured, elderly and disabled tenants have further protection.

My landlord changed the locks. What now?

That is an unlawful eviction. Only a court can authorise removal, and only a marshal can carry it out. Get advice immediately.

If your renewal does not look right

A freeze year is when errors surface, because any increase on a renewal offer now stands out. If the figure on your lease does not match what the Board adopted, or you have been offered no renewal at all, that is worth examining rather than accepting.

Our office handles residential real estate matters across New York City from 98-14 Queens Blvd, Queens, NY 11374. Get in touch if you want a renewal offer or a court notice looked at.